Returning XElement from class in separate file

Question

I'm new to C#. I created a class in a separate file for processing text. Both the main and text processing class are in the TextProcessing namespace. This is not the whole class, just the beginning:

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Xml.Linq;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Wordprocessing;

namespace TextProcessing
{
    public class Para2XML
    {
        private Paragraph XMLP;

        public Para2XML(string PText)
        {
            var xmlParagraph = XElement.Parse(PText);
            var XMLP = (Paragraph)TransformElementToOpenXml(xmlParagraph);
        }

        public Paragraph PReturn
        {
            get { return XMLP; }
        }

        private static OpenXmlElement TransformElementToOpenXml(XElement element)
        {
            return element.Name.LocalName switch
            {
                "p" => new Paragraph(element.Nodes().Select(TransformNodeToOpenXml)),
                "em" => new Run(new RunProperties(new Italic()), CreateText(element.Value)),
                "b" => new Run(new RunProperties(new Bold()), CreateText(element.Value)),
                _ => throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException()
            };
        }

Back in my program, this is where I instantiate the class:

foreach (var bkmkStart in wordDoc.MainDocumentPart.RootElement.Descendants<BookmarkStart>())
{
    if (bkmkStart.Name == "ForewordText")
    {
        forewordbkmkParent = bkmkStart.Parent;
        for (var y = 0; y <= ForewordArray.Length - 1; y++)
        {
            Para2XML TextProcessP = new Para2XML(ForewordArray[y]);
            forewordbkmkParent.InsertBeforeSelf(PReturn);
        }
    }
}

PReturn is public in the Para2XML class, but it acts like it's out of scope in the main class. In the main class, a red underline appears under PReturn with the message "The name 'PReturn' does not exist in the current context". If I declare PReturn in the main class, I get "Do not declare visible instance fields." I'm baffled how to return the XElement to the program from a class in a separate file.

I hope someone can point out my error. Thanks!

Answer 1

You must write TextProcessP.PReturn. I.e, the name of the object followed by a dot and the name of the property.

forewordbkmkParent.InsertBeforeSelf(TextProcessP.PReturn);

Names of local variables and method parameters are usually written in camleCase. Class level variables, so called fields, are written with underscore + camelCase, i.e., _camelCase. All the other identifiers are written in PascalCase (properties, classes namespaces etc.).

You don't need to repeat the name of the type twice. Write var variableName = new TypeName();

I prefer to use the plural for collections. Instead of appending the collection type to the name. I.e., forewords instead of forewordArray. Hovering above a name reveals the type in a tooltip anyway.

var processor = new Para2XML(forewords[y]);
forewordbkmkParent.InsertBeforeSelf(processor.PReturn);